The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of surfactant alcohols and surfactant alcohol ethers which, inter alia, are highly suitable as surfactants or for the preparation of surfactants. The process, starting from olefin mixtures, produces mixtures having a predominant fraction of branched decenes, which are subsequently derivatized to give surfactant alcohols and then optionally is alkoxylated.
The invention further relates to the use of the surfactant alcohols and surfactant alcohol ethers for the preparation of surfactants by glycosidation or polyglycosidation, sulfation or phosphation.
Fatty alcohols having chain lengths from C8 to C18 are used for the preparation of nonionic surfactants. They are reacted with alkylene oxides to give the corresponding fatty alcohol ethoxylates. (Chapter 2.3 in: Kosswig/Stache, xe2x80x9cDie Tensidexe2x80x9d [Surfactants], Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich Vienna (1993)). The chain length of the fatty alcohol influences various surfactant properties, such as, for example, wetting ability, foam formation, ability to dissolve grease, cleaning power.
Fatty alcohols having chain lengths from C8 to C18 can also be used for preparing anionic surfactants, such as alkyl phosphates and alkyl ether phosphates. Instead of phosphates, it is also possible to prepare the corresponding sulfates. (Chapter 2.2. in: Kosswig/Stache xe2x80x9cDie Tensidexe2x80x9d [Surfactants], Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich Vienna (1993)).
Such fatty alcohols are obtainable from native sources, e.g. from fats and oils, or else in a synthet ic ma nner by construction from building blocks having a lower number of carbon atoms. One variant here is the dimerization of an olefin to give a product having twice the number of carbon atoms and its functionalization to give an alcohol.
Linear olefins of suitable chain length are currently accessible mainly by two processes:
In the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, as well as paraffins, olefin isomer mixtures form as coupling products.
The oligomerization of ethylene has established itself as a further source for obtaining suitable olefins on an industrial scale. In this process, the catalysts used are alkylaluminums and also homogeneous nickel catalysts, as in the case of the known SHOP process from Shell (Weissermel/Arpe, Industrielle organische Chemie [Industrial Organic Chemistry]).
Olefin fractions of suitable chain length are further processed to give surfactant alcohols. The use of ethylene has the disadvantage of high feed material costs for the monomer building block. Processes for the preparation of surfactants which are based on ethylene as starting material are therefore important economically.
For the dimerization of olefins, a number of processes are known. For example, the reaction can be carried out over a heterogeneous cobalt oxide/carbon catalyst (FR-A-1 403 273), in the presence of acids such as sulfuric or phosphoric acid (FR 964 922), with an alkylaluminum catalyst (WO 97/16398), or with a homogeneously dissolved nickel complex catalyst (U.S. Pat. No. 4,069,273). According to the details in U.S. Pat. No. 4,069,273, the use of these nickel complex catalysts (the complexing agent used being 1,5-cyclooctadiene or 1,1,1,5,5,5-hexafluoropentane-2,4-dione) gives highly linear olefins with a high proportion of dimerization products.
FR-A-1 274 529 describes the Lewis-acid-catalyzed dimerization of methylpentenes, where the Lewis acid used is boron trifluoride. This process has the disadvantage that it is difficult to separate off the catalyst from the reaction product. As a result, not only are products contaminated with catalyst residues obtained, but the catalyst loss is also considerable.
DE-A 43 39 713 relates to a process for the oligomerization of unbranched C2- to C6-olefines and to catalysts being optimized in a way that they supply in the said process as intended very high portions of linear reaction products. In examples 3 and 5 butane/butene-mixtures are oligomerized resulting in reaction mixtures comprising 62 to 78 percent by weight of octene.
Functionalization of the olefins to give alcohols with extension of the carbon skeleton about a carbon atom advantageously takes place via the hydroformylation reaction, which gives a mixture of aldehydes and alcohols, which can then be hydrogenated to give alcohols. Approximately 7 million metric tons of products per annum are produced worldwide using the hydroformylation of olefins. An overview of catalysts and reaction conditions for the hydroformylation process is given, for example, by Beller et al. in Journal of Molecular Catalysis, A104 (1995), 17-85 and also in Ullmann""s Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, vol. A5 (1986), page 217 et seq., page 333, and the relevant literature references.
GB-A 1,471,481 relates to a process for the hydroformylation of olefines using a cobalt containing catalyst. The olefines as applied are linear and supply consequently only a few branched oxo alcohols and aldehydes.
DE-A 196 04 466 relates to aqueous compositions comprising an alkylpolyglycoside and a polyethyleneglycol derivative of Formula I as defined. The alkyl rest contained in the polyglycoside (page 2, line 55) is said to have 8 to 18, preferably 10 to 16 C-atoms; there are no direct indications about its degree of branching. The wording of page 3, line 11, i.e., the alkyl rest as being produced from fatty alcohols itself resulting from hydrogenation of native fatty acids, allows the interpretation that they are mostly linear alkyl rests.
From WO 98/23566 it is known that sulfates, alkoxylates, alkoxysulfates and carboxylates of a mixture of branched alkanols (oxo alcohols) exhibit good surface activity in cold water and have good biodegradability. The alkanols in the mixture used have a chain length of greater than 8 carbon atoms, having on average from 0.7 to 3 branches. The alkanol mixture can be prepared, for example by hydroformylation, from mixtures of branched olefins which for their part can be obtained either by skeletal isomerization or by dimerization of internal, linear olefins.
A given advantage of the process is that no C3- or C4-olefin stream is used for the preparation of the dimerization feed. It follows from this that, according to the current prior art, the olefins subjected to dimerization therein must have been prepared from ethylene (e.g. SHOP process). Since ethylene is a relatively expensive starting material for surfactant manufacture, ethylene-based processes have a disadvantage in terms of cost compared with processes which start from C3- and/or C4-olefin streams.
The structure of the components of the oxo alkanol mixture depends on the type of olefin mixture which has been subjected to hydroformylation. Olefin mixtures which have been obtained by skeletal isomerization from alpha-olefin mixtures lead to alkanols which are branched predominantly at the ends of the main chain, i.e. in positions 2 and 3, calculated from the end of the chain in each case.
The surface-active end products are obtained from the alkanol mixtures either by oxidation of the xe2x80x94CH2OH group to give the carboxyl group, or by sulfation of the alkanols or their alkoxylates.
Similar processes for the preparation of surfactants are described in the PCT Patent Application WO 97/38957 and in EP-A-787 704. Also in the processes described therein, an alpha-olefin is dimerized to give a mixture of predominantly vinylidene-branched olefin dimers: 
The vinylidene compounds are then double-bond-isomerized, such that the double bond migrates from the end of the chain further into the center, and are then subjected to hydroformylation to give an oxo alcohol mixture. The latter is then further reacted, e.g. by sulfation to give surfactants. A serious disadvantage of this process is that it starts from alpha-olefins. Alpha-olefins are obtained, for example, by transition-metal-catalyzed oligomerization of ethylene, Ziegler build-up reaction, wax cracking or Fischer-Tropsch processes and are therefore relatively expensive starting materials for the manufacture of surfactants. A further considerable disadvantage of this known surfactant preparation process is that a skeletalisomerization must be inserted in the process between the dimerization of the alpha-olefins and the hydroformylation of the dimerization product if predominantly branched products are desired. Because it uses a starting material which is relatively expensive for surfactant manufacture and because of the need to insert an additional process step, the isomerization, this known process is at a considerable disadvantage in terms of cost.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,780,694 describes the preparation and use of alcohols having degrees of branching between 0.9 and 2. The alcohols are prepared by homogeneously catalyzed dimerization of internal olefins and subsequent hydroformylation, where the n-proportion in the olefin to be dimerized is more than 85% by weight. A particular advantage of these alcohols is given as the cold washing behavior of their sulfates. Information about the properties of the corresponding ethoxylates and sulfates thereof is not given in this publication. A further advantage of this process is given as being the fact that, for the preparation of the alcohols, no propene- or butene-containing olefin mixtures are used, but mixtures which comprise at least 85% by weight of C6- to C10-olefins.
From the discussed disadvantages of the prior art, in particular also from the need to reduce the preparation costs, arises the object of providing a process for the preparation of surfactant alcohols which are advantageous in terms of application, in which the use of expensive raw materials, in particular costly ethylene, can be avoided.
Surprisingly, we have now found that branched olefins and alcohols (oxo alcohols), which can be further processed to give very highly effective surfactantsxe2x80x94referred to below as xe2x80x9csurfactant alcoholsxe2x80x9dxe2x80x94and which have particularly advantageous properties with regard to ecotoxicity and biodegradability, can be obtained if the process is carried out according to the invention as described below.
The present invention thus relates to a process for the preparation of surfactant alcohols and corresponding surfactant alcohol ethers by
a) dimerization of olefin mixtures,
b) derivatization to give primary alcohols, and
c) optional subsequent alkoxylation,
which comprises using for the dimerization a catalyst containing nickel, and an olefin mixture comprising essentially C6- to C12-olefins, which comprises at least 55% by weight of hexene isomers, where the hexene isomer fraction has less than 30% by weight of linear isomers.
Preferably, process step a), the dimerization, is carried out with heterogeneous catalysis. It is also preferable to use an olefin mixture which comprises at least 65% by weight of hexene isomers.
Particular preference is given to the use of so-called dimer propene as olefin mixture in step a) of the process according to the invention. The term xe2x80x9cdimer propenexe2x80x9d means a hexene isomer mixture which is formed in refinery processes during the oligomerization of propene, e.g. by the (copyright)DIMERSOL process (cf. Cornils/Herrmann, Applied Homogeneous Catalysis, Verlag Chemie (1996)).
In the dimerization of hexene isomer mixtures (step a) of the process according to the invention, dimerization products are obtained which, with regard to further processing to surfactant alcohols, have particularly favorable components and a particularly advantageous composition when the composition of the nickel catalyst and the reaction conditions are chosen such that a dimer mixture is obtained which comprises less than 10% by weight of compounds which have a structural element of the formula I (vinylidene group) 
in which A1 and A2 are aliphatic hydrocarbon radicals.
The dimerization can be carried out with homogeneous or heterogeneous catalysis. Preference is given to the heterogeneous procedure since with this, on the one hand, catalyst removal is simplified, making the process more economical, and on the other hand no waste waters injurious to the environment are produced, as usually form during the removal of dissolved catalysts, for example by hydrolysis. Another advantage of the heterogeneous process is that the dimerization product does not contain halogens, in particular chlorine or fluorine. Homogeneously soluble catalysts generally contain halide-containing ligands or are used in combination with halogen-containing cocatalysts. From such catalyst systems, halogen can be incorporated into the dimerization products, which considerably adversely affects both product quality and further processing, in particular hydroformylation to give surfactant alcohols.
For the heterogeneous catalysis, use is advantageously made of combinations of nickel oxides with aluminum oxide on support materials made from silicon and titanium oxides, as are known, for example, from DE-A-43 39 713. The heterogeneous catalyst can be used in a fixed bedxe2x80x94then preferably in coarsely particulate form as 1 to 1.5 mm chipsxe2x80x94or in suspended form (particle size 0.05 to 0.5 mm). In the case of a heterogeneous procedure, the dimerization is advantageously carried out at temperatures of from 80 to 200xc2x0 C., preferably from 100 to 180xc2x0 C., at the pressure prevailing at the reaction temperature, optionally also under a protective gas at a pressure above atmospheric, in a closed system. To achieve optimal conversions, the reaction mixture is advantageously circulated repeatedly, a certain proportion of the circulating product being continuously bled out of the system and replaced by starting material.
In the dimerization according to the invention, mixtures of monounsaturated hydrocarbons are obtained whose components predominantly have a chain length twice that of the starting olefins.
A characteristic feature of the olefin mixtures prepared according to the invention is their high proportionxe2x80x94usually greater than 90%, in particular greater than 95%xe2x80x94of components containing branches and the low proportionxe2x80x94usually less than 10%, in particular less than 5%xe2x80x94of unbranched olefins. A further characteristic is that predominantly methyl or ethyl groups are bonded to the branching sites of the main chain.
The novel olefin mixtures obtainable by step a) of the process according to the invention and having the structural features given above are likewise provided by the present invention. They are useful intermediates, in particular for the preparation, described in more detail below and carried out in accordance with step b) of the process according to the invention, of branched primary alcohols and surfactants, but can also be used as starting materials in other industrial processes which start from olefins, particularly when the end products are to have improved toxicological properties.
If the olefin mixtures according to the invention are to be used for the preparation of surfactants, then they are firstly derivatized in accordance with step b) of the process according to the invention by methods known per se to give surfactant alcohols.
This can be achieved in a variety of ways, which either include the direct or indirect addition of water (hydration) to the double bond, or an addition of CO and hydrogen (hydroformylation) to the Cxe2x95x90C double bond.
Hydration of the olefins resulting from process step a) is advantageously carried out by direct water addition with proton catalysis. An indirect route, for example via the addition of high-percentage sulfuric acid to give an alkanol sulfonate and subsequent hydrolysis to give the alkanol, is, of course, also possible. The more advantageous direct water addition is carried out in the presence of acidic, in particular heterogeneous, catalysts and generally at a very high olefin partial pressure and at very low temperatures. Suitable catalysts have proven to be, in particular, phosphoric acid on supports such as, for example, SiO2 or Celite, or else acidic ion exchangers. The choice of conditions depends on the reactivity of the olefins to be reacted and can routinely be ascertained by preliminary experiments (lit.: e.g. A. J. Kresge et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 93, 4907 (1971); Houben-Weyl vol. 5/4 (1960), pages 102-132 and 535-539). Hydration generally leads to mixtures of primary and secondary alkanols, in which the secondary alkanols predominate.
For the preparation of surfactants, it is more favorable to start from primary alkanols. It is therefore preferable to effect derivatizationxe2x80x94step b) of the process according to the inventionxe2x80x94of the olefin mixtures obtained from step a) by reaction of same with carbon monoxide and hydrogen in the presence of suitable, preferably cobalt- or rhodium-containing, catalysts to give branched primary alcohols. (Hydroformylation).
A good overview of the process of hydroformylation with numerous other literature references can be found, for example, in the extensive article by Beller et al. in Journal of Molecular Catalysis, A104 (1995) 17-85 or in Ullmann""s Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, vol. A5 (1986), page 217 et seq., page 333, and the relevant literature references.
The comprehensive information given therein allows the person skilled in the art to hydroformylate even the mixtures of branched olefins obtained in step a) of the process according to the invention. In this reaction, CO and hydrogen are added to olefinic double bonds, giving mixtures of aldehydes and alkanols according to the following reaction equation: 
The molar ratio of n- and iso-compounds in the reaction mixture is usually in the range from 1:1 to 20:1 depending on the hydroformylation process conditions chosen and the catalyst used. The hydroformylation is normally carried out in the temperature range from 90 to 200xc2x0 and at a CO/H2 pressure of from 2.5 to 35 MPa (25 to 350 bar). The mixing ratio of carbon monoxide to hydrogen depends on whether the intention is to produce alkanals or alkanols in preference. The CO:H2 ratio is advantageously from 10:1 to 1:10, preferably from 3:1 to 1:3, where, for the preparation of alkanals, the range of low hydrogen partial pressures is chosen, and for the preparation of alkanols the range of high hydrogen partial pressures is chosen, e.g. CO:H2=1:2.
Suitable catalysts are mainly metal compounds of the formula HM(CO)4 or M2(CO)8, where M is a metal atom, preferably a cobalt, rhodium or ruthenium atom.
Generally, under hydroformylation conditions, the catalysts or catalyst precursors used in each case form catalytically active species of the formula HxMy(CO)zLq, in which M is a metal of subgroup VIII, L is a ligand, which can be a phosphine, phosphite, amine, pyridine or any other donor compound, including in polymeric form, and q, x, y and z are integers depending on the valency and type of metal, and the covalence of the ligand L, where q can also be 0.
The metal M is preferably cobalt, ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, platinum, osmium or iridium and in particular cobalt, rhodium or ruthenium.
Suitable rhodium compounds or complexes are, for example, rhodium(II) and rhodium(III) salts, such as rhodium(III) chloride, rhodium(III) nitrate, rhodium(III) sulfate, potassium rhodium sulfate, rhodium(II) or rhodium(III) carboxylate, rhodium(II) and rhodium(III) acetate, rhodium (III) oxide, salts of rhodium(III) acid, such as, for example, trisammonium hexachlororhodate(III). Also suitable are rhodium complexes such as rhodium biscarbonylacetylacetonate, acetylacetonatobisethylenerhodium(I). Preference is given to using rhodium biscarbonylacetylacetonate or rhodium acetate.
Suitable cobalt compounds are, for example, cobalt(II) chloride, cobalt(II) sulfate, cobalt(II) carbonate, cobalt(II) nitrate, their amine or hydrate complexes, cobalt carboxylates, such as cobalt acetate, cobalt ethylhexanoate, cobalt naphthenate, and the cobalt caprolactamate complex. Here, too, it is possible to use the carbonyl complexes of cobalt, such as dicobalt octacarbonyl, tetracobalt dodecacarbonyl and hexacobalt hexadecacarbonyl.
Said compounds of cobalt, rhodium and ruthenium are known in principle and are described adequately in the literature, or they can be prepared by the person skilled in the art in a manner analogous to that for compounds already known.
The hydroformylation can be carried out with the addition of inert solvents or diluents or without such an addition. Suitable inert additives are, for example, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, cyclohexanone, toluene, xylene, chlorobenzene, methylene chloride, hexane, petroleum ether, acetonitrile, and the high-boiling fractions from the hydroformylation of the dimerization products.
If the resulting hydroformylation product has too high an aldehyde content, this can be removed in a simple manner by hydrogenation, for example using hydrogen in the presence of Raney nickel or using other catalysts known for hydrogenation reactions, in particular catalysts containing copper, zinc, cobalt, nickel, molybdenum, zirconium or titanium. In the process, the aldehyde fractions are largely hydrogenated to give alkanols. A virtually residue-free removal of aldehyde fractions from the reaction mixture can, if desired, be achieved by posthydrogenation, for example under particularly mild and economical conditions using an alkali metal borohydride.
The mixtures of branched primary alkanols, preparable by hydroformylation of the novel olefin mixtures resulting from step a) of the process according to the invention, are likewise provided by the present invention.
Nonionic or anionic surfactants can be prepared from the alkanols according to the invention in different ways.
Nonionic surfactants are obtained by reacting the alkanols with alkylene oxides (alkoxylation) of the formula II 
in which R1 is hydrogen or a straight-chain or branched aliphatic radical of the formula CnH2n+1, and n is a number from 1 to 16, preferably from 1 to 8. In particular, R1 is hydrogen, methyl or ethyl.
The alkanols according to the invention can be reacted with a single alkylene oxide species or with two or more different species. The reaction of the alkanols with the alkylene oxides forms compounds which in turn carry an OH group and can therefore react afresh with one molecule of alkylene oxide. Therefore, depending on the molar ratio of alkanol to alkylene oxide, reaction products are obtained which have polyether chains of varying length. The polyether chains can contain from 1 to about 200 alkylene oxide structural groups. Preference is given to compounds whose polyether chains contain from 1 to 10 alkylene oxide structural groups.
The chains can consist of identical chain members, or they can have different alkylene oxide structural groups which differ from one another by virtue of their radical R1. These various structural groups can be present within the chain in random distribution or in the form of blocks.
The reaction equation below serves to illustrate the alkoxylation of the alkanols according to the invention using, as example, a reaction with two different alkylene oxides which are used in varying molar amounts x and y. 
R1 and R1a are different radicals within the scope of the definitions given for R1, and R2xe2x80x94OH is a branched alkanol according to the invention.
The alkoxylation is preferably catalyzed by strong bases, which are advantageously added in the form of an alkali metal hydroxide or alkaline earth metal hydroxide, usually in an amount of from 0.1 to 1% by weight, based on the amount of the alkanol R2xe2x80x94OH (cf. G. Gee et al., J. Chem. Soc. (1961), p. 1345; B. Wojtech, Makromol. Chem. 66, (1966), p. 180).
Acidic catalysis of the addition reaction is also possible. As well as Bronsted acids, Lewis acids, such as, for example, AlCl3 or BF3, are also suitable (cf. P. H. Plesch, The Chemistry of Cationic Polymerization, Pergamon Press, New York (1963)).
The addition reaction is carried out at temperatures of from about 120 to about 220xc2x0 C., preferably from 140 to 160xc2x0 C., in a sealed vessel. The alkylene oxide or the mixture of different alkylene oxides is introduced into the mixture of alkanol mixture according to the invention and alkali under the vapor pressure of the alkylene oxide mixture prevailing at the chosen reaction temperature. If desired, the alkylene oxide can be diluted by up to about 30 to 60% using an inert gas. This leads to additional security against explosive polyaddition of the alkylene oxide.
If an alkylene oxide mixture is used, then polyether chains are formed in which the various alkylene oxide building blocks are distributed in a virtually random manner. Variations in the distribution of the building blocks along the polyether chain arise due to varying reaction rates of the components and can also be achieved arbitrarily by continuous introduction of an alkylene oxide mixture of a program-controlled composition. If the various alkylene oxides are reacted successively, then polyether chains having block-like distribution of the alkylene oxide building blocks are obtained.
The length of the polyether chains varies within the reaction product in a random manner about a mean, which essentially corresponds to the stoichiometric value arising from the amount added.
The alkoxylates preparable starting from alkanol mixtures and olefin mixtures according to the invention are likewise provided by the present invention. They exhibit very good surface activity and can therefore be used as neutral surfactants in many areas of application.
Starting from the alkanol mixtures according to the invention, it is also possible to prepare surface-active glycosides and polyglycosides (oligoglycosides). These substances too have very good surfactant properties. They are obtained by single or multiple reaction (glycosidation, polyglycosidation) of the alkanol mixtures according to the invention with mono-, di- or polysaccharides with the exclusion of water and with acid catalysis. Suitable acids are, for example, HCl or H2SO4. As a rule, the process produces oligoglycosides having random chain length distribution, the average degree of oligomerization being from 1 to 3 saccharide radicals.
In another standard synthesis, the saccharide is firstly acetalated with acid catalysis with a low molecular weight alkanol, e.g. butanol, to give butanol glycoside. This reaction can also be carried out with aqueous solutions of the saccharide. The lower alkanol glycoside, for example butanol glycoside, is then reacted with the alkanol mixtures according to the invention to give the desired glycosides according to the invention. After the acidic catalyst has been neutralized, excess long-chain and short-chain alkanols can be removed from the equilibrium mixture, e.g. by distillation under reduced pressure.
Another standard method proceeds via the O-acetyl compounds of saccharides. The latter are converted, using hydrogen halide preferably dissolved in glacial acetic acid, into the corresponding O-acetylhalosaccharides, which react in the presence of acid-binding agents with the alkanols to give the acetylated glycosides.
Preferred for the glycosidation of the alkanol mixtures according to the invention are monosaccharides, either hexoses, such as glucose, fructose, galactose, mannose, or pentoses, such as arabinose, xylose or ribose. Particular preference for glycosidation of the alkanol mixtures according to the invention is glucose. It is, of course, also possible to use mixtures of said saccharides for the glycosidation. Glycosides having randomly distributed sugar radicals are obtained, depending on the reaction conditions. The glycosidation can also take place several times, resulting in polyglycoside chains being added to the hydroxyl groups of the alkanols. In a polyglycosidation using different saccharides, the saccharide building blocks can be randomly distributed within the chain or form blocks of the same structural groups.
Depending on the reaction temperature chosen, furanose or pyranose structures can be obtained. To improve the solubility ratios, the reaction can also be carried out in suitable solvents or diluents.
Standard processes and suitable reaction conditions have been described in various publications, for example in xe2x80x9cUllmann""s Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistryxe2x80x9d, 5th edition vol. A25 (1994), pages 792-793 and in the literature references given therein, by K. Igarashi, Adv. Carbohydr. Chem. Biochem. 34, (1977), pp. 243-283, by Wulff and Rohle, Angew. Chem. 86, (1974), pp. 173-187, or in Krauch and Kunz, Reaktionen der organischen Chemie [Reactions in Organic Chemistry], pp. 405-408, Huthig, Heidelberg, (1976).
The glycosides and polyglycosides (oligoglycosides) preparable starting from alkanol mixtures and olefin mixtures according to the invention are likewise provided by the present invention.
Both the alkanol mixtures according to the invention and the polyethers prepared therefrom can be converted into anionic surfactants by esterifying them in a manner known per se with sulfuric acid or sulfluic acid derivatives to give acidic alkyl sulfates or alkyl ether sulfates (sulfating), or with phosphoric acid or its derivatives to give acidic alkyl phosphates or alkyl ether phosphates (phosphating). Sulfating reactions of alcohols have already been described, e.g. in U.S. Pat. No. 3,462,525, 3,420,875 or 3,524,864. Details on carrying out this reaction can also be found in xe2x80x9cUllmann""s Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistryxe2x80x9d, 5th edition vol. A25 (1994), pages 779-783 and in the literature references given therein.
If sulfuric acid itself is used for the esterification, then from 75 to 100% strength by weight, preferably from 85 to 98% strength by weight, of acid is advantageously used (so-called xe2x80x9cconcentrated sulfuric acidxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cmonohydratexe2x80x9d). The esterification can be carried out in a solvent or diluent if one is desired for controlling the reaction, e.g. the evolution of heat. In general, the alcoholic reactant is initially introduced, and the sulfating agent is gradually added with continuous mixing. If complete esterification of the alcohol component is desired, the sulfating agent and the alkanol are used in a molar ratio from 1:1 to 1:1.5, preferably from 1:1 to 1:1.2. Lesser amounts of sulfating agent can be advantageous if mixtures of alkanol alkoxylates according to the invention are used and the intention is to prepare combinations of neutral and anionic surfactants. The esterification is normally carried out at temperatures from room temperature to 85xc2x0 C., preferably in the range from 45 to 75xc2x0 C.
In some instances, it may be advantageous to carry out the esterification in a low-boiling water-immiscible solvent and diluent at its boiling point, the water forming during the esterification being distilled off azeotropically.
Instead of sulfuric acid of the concentration given above, for the sulfation of the alkanol mixtures according to the invention it is also possible, for example, to use sulfur trioxide, sulfur trioxide complexes, solutions of sulfur trioxide in sulfuric acid (xe2x80x9coleumxe2x80x9d), chlorosulfonic acid, suirl chloride and also amidosulfonic acid.
The reaction conditions are then adapted appropriately.
If sulfur trioxide is used as sulfating agent, then the reaction can also be carried out advantageously in a falling-film reactor in countercurrent, if desired also continuously.
Following esterification, the mixtures are neutralized by adding alkali and, optionally after removal of excess alkali sulfate and any solvent present, are worked up.
The acidic alkanol sulfates and alkanol ether sulfates and salts thereof obtained by sulfation of alkanols and alkanol ethers according to the invention and their mixtures are likewise provided by the present invention.
In an analogous manner, alkanols and alkanol ethers according to the invention and mixtures thereof can also be reacted (phosphated) to give acidic phosphoric esters using phosphating agents.
Suitable phosphating agents are mainly phosphoric acid, polyphosphoric acid and phosphorus pentoxide, but also POCl3 when the remaining acid chloride fimctions are subsequently hydrolyzed. The phosphation of alcohols has been described, for example, in Synthesis 1985, pages 449 to 488.
The acidic alkanol phosphates and alkanol ether phosphates obtained by phosphation of alkanols and alkanol ethers according to the invention and their mixtures are also provided by the present invention.
Finally, the use of the alkanol ether mixtures, alkanol glycosides and the acidic sulfates and phosphates of the alkanol mixtures and of the alkanol ether mixtures preparable starting from the olefin mixtures according to the invention as surfactants is also provided by the present invention.